A cut and raked crop that has been dried or otherwise prepared in a field, such as hay, straw or other agricultural material is often gathered, compressed and shaped by an agricultural baler. There are several types of balers that are commonly used, each resulting in different types of bales. Some are rectangular and some are cylindrical of various sizes. Bales can be bound with netting, strapping, wire or traditionally twine using a tie system to connect ends of the twine. Large square balers often use a double tie knotting system. The double tie knotter ties two knots, one to complete the previous bale, and another to start the next or current bale. Twine is then directly fed out of the twine galls during bale formation. A typical large square bale weighs between 800 and 1,600 pounds and is often dropped in the field by the baler, for later retrieval, as the baling system proceeds though the field.
A baler that produces small rectangular bales, often also called square bales, produce bales that are typically wrapped with two strands of knotted twine. The bales are light enough for easy handling and typically weigh from 40 to 80 pounds each. A bale is formed by a series of processes performed by the square baler including lifting the windrowed material, hereinafter referred to as hay, by way of the pickup portion of the baler. The hay is then moved by way of an auger into a chamber that has a feeding fork. The feeding fork moves the hay in front of a sliding plunger with a cutting edge that cuts the hay and moves the hay in the chamber into previously packed hay therein causing the hay to be compressed. Once a predetermined amount of hay has been gathered in the chamber, as measured by the amount being extruded through the opening at the rear of the chamber, a mechanism is triggered causing the twine to be threaded through the hay, cut and then knotted thereby forming the bale and one portion of the twine is retained to start to receive hay for the next bale. As the bales are moved through the compression channel out to the rear of the baler, the baled hay is then either loaded onto a wagon or dropped into the field for later retrieval.
To operate properly the tie system of either a large or small square baler requires the twine to move properly without snagging on parts of the baler so that the twine is positioned by a needle for proper knotting by the tie system. The tie system itself carries out a choreographed sequence of operations, which is subject to malfunction if the twine is not properly routed by the needle to the knotters. The adjustment of the needle to properly meet the knotter is carried out by adjusting the knotter to the needle in a comparatively expensive manner.
What is needed in the art is a baler that provides for a cost effective fine adjustment of the needle movement so that it properly meets the knotter of the tie system.